The police met haven't exactly covered themselves in glory over the last year or so. Fair enough sending the letters to those convicted of public order offences, but not otherwise. Effectively they're just saying 'you think you got away with it last time, but we're still watching you'.
And as for threatening to use baton rounds on school kids...people have a right to protest, peacefully. Threatening violence before the event isn't acceptable from either 'side'.

It seems to me that the police are simply setting out what will happen if they try and break off and start smashing shops etc.

The police last time allowed the students to run riot, and basically they are now telling them that if you try it again you'll get f*cked.

and its about time they did.
Peaceful protest no one has a problem with, attacking property, the police etc, then its time the police rseponded and gave them a kicking they wont forget.

as for people who havent got convictions, they got let off last time, hopefully the CPS and Police will do a better job next time and hopefully the students wont allow their march to be overtaken by activists looking for a fight.

Its a clear attempt to intimidate people not to attend and is bang out of order.
it will backfire in two ways
1) that its been shown that they do keep records on people not even charged and 2) that more people will attend as a result.

If you work for the police these days your real employer is whichever political party is in office.

This opinion is not intended to denigrate the commitment of PC's across the country, rather to acknowledge that Senior Police Officers have become pawns in a political game that exists to serve politicians not us.

"as for people who haven't got convictions, they got let off last time, hopefully the CPS and Police will do a better job next time" eh ?

The people who haven't got convictions did not get let off there was no evidence they had done any wrong. Hopefully the police will do a better job and not arrest people without evidence and will not arrest for political reasons rather than public order reasons .

Seems perfectly reasonable to me considering the amount of mindless violence/rioting we've seen before.
A letter reminding people not to do illegal stuff shouldn't be a big issue for those not intending to break the law.

Ok, I appreciate the police don't always play it by the book either (sadly have personal experience of this), but considering the 'cost' of previous' protests, any way to get them brought down seems to make sense.

Not having a conviction does not mean you are innocent.
Just as I have been successfully prosecuted for something a traffic offence I was not guilty, I was also not prosecuted despite admitting to doing 115mph while undertaking (I was then chased a tad over 10 miles without realising - was on a motorbike).

It's not intimidation, its just setting out what the consequences of illegal activity are.

Haha, course it's not. Neither was the press release about baton rounds was it? Met are being told what to do by Whitehall, and the farce continues unabated. Funnily enough all this ridiculous posturing is creating a generation of politically active students who are using a bit of guile and some direct action to make themselves heard. Is this the big society kicking in or the unintentional consequence of a clumsy attempt to intimidate?

crankboy - Member
The letter states "Do not stand and watch it may not be safe to do so" I'm not really sure standing and watching even a violent protest is illegal.

It doesn't say that watching is illegal, it says it "may not be safe", which seems like common sense to me.

Having read the whole letter, I'm still failing to see what the problem is. It actually reminds me of those old TV adverts about failing to pay your TV license, or some of those driving ones we used to get - no more than a general warning to try to stay on the right side of the law.

In every single briefing I have been involved in over the last 10 years or so, the commander of the event has always emphasised to all officers that it is peoples right to have a peaceful protest, and we are present to make sure those people can demonstrate and march unhindered
I think you will find that most officers agree with this principle, and have no problem at all with people exercising their right to demonstrate , after all a lot of police officers will have the same views as a lot of protesters
What we are against is the rent a mob, who attach themselves to parades, and cause mayhem and violence, these people are only interested in causing as many problems as possible for the state as a whole

What we are against is the rent a mob, who attach themselves to parades, and cause mayhem and violence, these people are only interested in causing as many problems as possible for the state as a whole

Is that what they told you? Wake up. There's no such thing as 'rent a mob'. No-one pays anarchists to turn up and start trouble. They do it because they like it. In fact the only ones getting paid are your undercover mates who are fully involved in agitation and who the cynics might say are sometimes key in ensuring things go off with a bang.

And whilst we're on the subject, do you honestly think everyone who gets involved in disorder is a member of the black block? Are they bollocks! Half of them are ordinary people who get caught up in the moment usually after being kettled for hours despite having done nothing wrong.

Also This here Police sending threatening letters to innocent motorcyclists

Police say they can demand riders admit to an alleged offence, then decide what offence.
They have been accused of abusing the law with the tactic, used against a number of motorcyclists.
MCN revealed how riders had received police letters saying they were suspected of an offence but withholding details of the allegation. The letters said they must admit who was riding at the time.
Now police have admitted they sent the letters before deciding what offence to accuse the riders of.
The letters cite Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act, which makes it an offence carrying six points and a £1000 fine not to identify the rider. Police routinely use it to find out who was driving or riding a vehicle caught by speed camera.
But the requirement to tell the police only applies when the rider is ‘alleged to be guilty of an offence’.
Northumbria’s Sergeant Dave Clement admitted there were no specific allegations against riders in this case.
“I would imagine the investigation needs to take place before we determine exactly what offences,” he said.
He said the force had acted within the law. “The riders and drivers of these vehicles are under investigation so we need their details.”
But road traffic solicitor Robert Dobson said: “They cannot simply write to a registered vehicle keeper asking for the details of the driver when they have not identified the offence of which that driver is allegedly guilty.
“I would say it’s an abuse of the legislation, which wasn’t drafted for this purpose.
“It’s a pure and simple fishing exercise.”
The letters were sent to nine riders who took part in motorway slow-rides organised by the Motor Cycle Action Group over planned EU measures to prevent bike modifying.

What we are against is the rent a mob, who attach themselves to parades, and cause mayhem and violence, these people are only interested in causing as many problems as possible for the state as a whole

Then don't allow thugs to don police uniforms and charge people exercising their democratic right to protest with horses, 'kettle' people for no good reason and generally act outside of the Law, then.

Quite simple really.

In every single briefing I have been involved in over the last 10 years or so, the commander of the event has always emphasised to all officers that it is peoples right to have a peaceful protest, and we are present to make sure those people can demonstrate and march unhindered

the government and the met were caught with their trousers down last time May looked less than capable cameron and borris took several days to comeback from their hols and the feral right in this country were outraged by the inefectiveness of those they voted for
the batton rounds, the letters are just a bit of desperate PR from a weak government who are doing a very good job at alienating their core supporters

Yossarian, you best heed the letter, you wouldn't want to lose your one eye.

Is that what they told you? Wake up. There's no such thing as 'rent a mob'. No-one pays anarchists to turn up and start trouble. They do it because they like it. In fact the only ones getting paid are your undercover mates who are fully involved in agitation and who the cynics might say are sometimes key in ensuring things go off with a bang.

Oh, thats ok then.So it's undercover police who are causing all the trouble, thanks for clearing that up, pass the tinfoil.

Actually the Government pays the anarchists, its called benefits.
And wake up, you need to realise these people just look to latch on to any demonstration and then break off with their own agenda.
If the demonstrations turn in to a typical Saturday night in Leeds I'd expect the police to be very heavy handed.

What we are against is the rent a mob, who attach themselves to parades, and cause mayhem and violence, these people are only interested in causing as many problems as possible for the state as a whole

I would write them a letter, that should put a stop to their nonsense.

BTW they're not called parades, they're called marches or demonstrations - have you actually policed one ?

Unless of course you've policed Easter/Carnival/Military parades in which the rent a mob turned up causing "mayhem and violence", in which case, please accept my apologies.

A peaceful protest speaks volumes. A violent protest is largely an own-goal.

So since, unsurprisingly, most "protests" are protesting against government policies, the government of the day must hope and pray that a protest turns violent, or at the very least, that it is reported as having been violent.

So since, unsurprisingly, most "protests" are protesting against government policies, the government of the day must hope and pray that a protest turns violent, or at the very least, that it is reported as having been violent.

Or maybe they are trying to avoid anyone getting hurt. Especially when pathetic young men drop fire extinguishers down onto someone just doing their job.

Must be bloody awful being in the Police....but then you'll get 40yr old Guardian readers who will still refer to the Police as 'the Feds' as they tut about education whilst casually keeping crime going smoking weed and other hallucinogenic drugs...